A commander of a vigilance group in Rivers State has been arrested with two human skulls, suspected to be part of the remains of two siblings that the suspect allegedly killed.
The Rivers State Police Command said that the suspect, one Felix Nwaobakata, who until his arrest was the commander of a local vigilance group, was picked up with the two human skulls and other human parts at his hideout in Omoku, the headquarters of the Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of the state.
Omoku, which was once terrorised by notorious cultists and kidnap kingpins, recovered from that reign of terror, but is gradually being threatened by a new phase of insecurity driven by vigilance groups.
The spokesperson of the Rivers State Police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, in a statement in Port Harcourt, the state capital, yesterday said that Felix, who is the Commander of the ONELGA Security and Peace Advisory Committee (OSPAC), was a principal suspect in the murder of two brothers in Idu in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni LGA on May 1, 2024.
She said that the two brothers were murdered on the accusation that they were kidnappers, adding that Nwaobakata and other OSPAC members were arrested following complaints about their activities in different parts of the state, especially in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni LGA.
The two brothers were said to have been killed on May 1, 2024, by the OSPAC on the allegation that they were kidnappers and their motorcycles were reportedly confiscated, and their bodies taken to the OSPAC secretariat in Omoku.
Iringe-Koko also said that operatives of OSPAC had recently attacked a police division in Omoku and clashed with other security agencies. She also revealed that its operatives also arrested seven other members of the local security group for various crimes, including murder, in order to curtail the activities of vigilance groups in the state.
The statement read, “The Rivers State Police Command has commenced a clampdown on the excesses of vigilante groups operating within the state. “This follows numerous complaints about the operations of the ONELGA Security and Peace Advisory Committee in different parts of the state, predominantly in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni LGA, as well as clashes with other security agencies by this vigilante group.
“On May 9, 2024, Alhaji Usman Seleh, the Chairman of the Hausa Indigenous Group in ONELGA, reported that OSPAC had abducted a member of his group. He proceeded to report the matter to the police. Consequently, the police invited the ONELGA OSPAC Commander, Felix Nwaobakata, who refused to honor several invitations.